


Perhaps We Were (Not) Meant To Be

by publishesinfontuwu



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Hyuck thinks of Mark as Family and Best Friend, LuRen are cousins, Lucas is his guy-in-the-chair, M/M, Mark Lee (NCT) as Spider-Man, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Soulmates, Romantic Soulmates, Unconventional Soulmates, endgame (hinted): LuMark, endgame: renhyuck, one-sided pining from Mark, one-sided!markhyuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:14:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27507427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/publishesinfontuwu/pseuds/publishesinfontuwu
Summary: I, Mark Lee, am in love with my best friend who thinks of me as family and his best friend. Oh, did I mention that I am the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman too.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 8
Kudos: 62





	Perhaps We Were (Not) Meant To Be

**Author's Note:**

> Hihi :) Never thought I would be writing something like this and welp hehehe look where I am now~
> 
> This was such a joy to write — it started from 3K and it grew... oops!! A gentle reminder to please do heed the tags, it is very important. I have added the endgame pair there, and other things to take note of.
> 
> That's all!! Enjoy the fic and if you'd like... check the end notes for headcanons for the two pairs of lovers!

Hi, I am Mark, and you can mark me in your hea— I mean, I’m Mark Lee… uhm Minhyung… yes, right, uhm okay, moving on!

I’m a senior in college, majoring in chemistry and physics. I have a best friend named Lee Donghyuck but we liked to call him Haechan. Donghyuck is a wonder — in both good and bad ways. He is reckless, hot-tempered and not so law abiding. But he is also sweet to the grandmothers at the cafe he works at, he brings out the playfulness in our friend groups and he is very _very_ lovable. He is literally the embodiment of the Sun, hence his nickname. 

And I have an issue. It’s nothing bad really, nothing bad at all — just a tiny, little budding issue which has somehow grown into a huge-ass issue. 

I, Mark Lee, am in love with my best friend, or my soulmate as he called us.

Ah, the cliche trope of falling in love with your best friend. But I promise you, it isn’t like I woke up one morning, saw him and it hit me and I realised that _oh damn, I think I really like my best friend_. There wasn’t the “in that very moment, he knew he’s in love” feeling, it was just that somehow, in a weird way or another, I had fallen in love with him. It was a gradual free fall and by the time I realised, there was no way to stop the love that was already deeply rooted within myself. 

I found myself searching for him in the crowds, making sure he was alright, learning to pick up the different signals he sends, adapting myself to fit into his ideals. I got so used to reading him that I just had to spare one look at Donghyuck and I knew if he wanted salt or pepper without him saying a word. Then, one day when he was just eating pizza messily with the rest of our friends, I turned and looked at him and all I could think of was how I would love to spend the rest of my life with him by my side. 

Call me whipped, I don’t particularly care.

Except, I do care, and well... I’m not exactly very human.

Hell, I wished I’m a normal decent human being so I could confess, tell Donghyuck that I love him and do cute couple things with him.

I, Mark Lee, am known to the world as the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman. 

Oh, before you ask me, yes I do have a guy-in-the-chair called Lucas — or Xuxi, or Yukhei depending on when you talk to him. He is charming to work with as he navigates me across the city to make sure that the evil-doers are not causing harm. He is fast on his reflexes — not as fast as me of course, but he is fast — and always a step ahead in every situation. I’m grateful for him to be my chair guy and also my go-to guy that I whine about my enormous crush on Donghyuck. 

Which is a lot.

And I’m pretty sure he is annoyed as hell about it. 

“Just, confess and date him, dude… this pining is getting increasingly devastating!”

My answer would always be the same: I would love it, God, the way I would want to hold Donghyuck in my arms, pour out the love I have for him, to caress his chubby cheeks gently in my—

“Just confess!” and then Lucas hung up on me.

I wish Lucas would understand how it feels to have a crush and being unable to tell him anything. 

It is the way Donghyuck clings onto me every time whenever we are out — he is generally a very touchy person and that doesn’t help my situation at all — and the way he seeks for affection in forms of hugs and cheek kisses. I found myself allowing him to do that, often enough that our mutual social circle brought it up one day. Donghyuck just giggled and held my hand to his cheek, beaming as he yelled in a saccharine sweet tone, “that’s because we are soulmates, you idiots,” I remembered the way my heart thumped in my chest as the tips of my ear burned red. 

The intercom in my suit buzzed again and Lucas’s voice came back on. “So, the threat to your happily ever after, the Huang Renjun dude… do you need help with distracting him?”

“Are you offering?” I replied as Lucas laughed into my ears.

“I am _rather hot_ as told by my ex-dates.”

I laughed at that and gave him a negative answer, I’ll win Donghyuck over fair and square. Oh, who is Renjun, you ask? He is Donghyuck’s co-worker in the cafe, and well, the story goes back to eleven months ago, when I messed up a movie night _date_ with Donghyuck. 

***********************

Huang Renjun was an outlier of Mark and Donghyuck’s relationship and it was probably Mark’s fault — and Lucas’s combined effort which Mark doesn’t know _yet_ — that he entered Donghyuck’s life. 

It was a gorgeous Friday evening of the routine biweekly Movie Night with Donghyuck, Mark was sitting in the pizza joint waiting for his pizza order when a crackling lime green bodysuit super-villain dash past the pizza joint in his hoverboard. Mark jolted in his seat, dashed down the walkway trying to catch up and find an alley for the costume change, completely ignoring the call from the pizza staff. Mark contacted Lucas the moment he slipped into his suit, and swung up to hurry after the villain. 

“Xuxi, I need directions, I think I just saw Slime heading over to the Town Square.”

Lucas’s panicked cursing through the intercom and with a loud yelp and thud — he yelled a loud “I’m okay!” — and Mark heard the tell-tale signs of the computer starting up. Waiting for Lucas to start up his equipment, Mark surveyed the Town Square from the building he was perched on. Lucas crackled in his intercom and gave him the coordinates as Mark took off into the distance. Mark knew he had to find the guy before he could cause any serious damage or worse, casualties in the Friday crowd.

Lucas cursed under his breath and muttered frantically for a plan for Mark as he zipped closer to the villain. “Take West and then round back to tackle him by shoving him off the hoverboard.”

Mark made an affirmative noise and shifted into action, Lucas muttered the follow up plan and then Mark perfectly executed the drop, knocking the villain off his board, and they rolled onto an empty rooftop. Mark was smashed to the ground when Slime attacked him with a burst of toxic slime to mask his movement to tackle Mark down. Mark winced in pain and Lucas yelled into the intercom to check on him. 

“I’m okay, ‘m okay. Next plan?”

Lucas sent the route via the system and Mark got up gingerly, already feeling the bruise forming on his shoulder. Donghyuck is going to kick up a huge fuss about it once he sees it. He took off in the direction Lucas planned out and focused his mind on stopping his nemesis before actual collateral damage happened to the city below them. It took them a good two hours before they even managed to corner him at an alley and tied him up securely. Mark stole a phone from an unsuspecting passersby to call the police with, before he made sure that the villain was securely tied up to the pole before he leapt away. 

“I’m going to get changed—” Mark was telling Lucas when the latter cut in.

“Dude, didn’t you say you have a movie night with Donghyuck?” 

_Oh shit._

So Mark did forget about that and the pizza joint is probably closed already, and Donghyuck will be so disappointed. He checked his phone and saw the time before the fourteen missed calls and twelve messages from Donghyuck, Mark let out another string of curses as he made his way back into the apartment. His phone beeped again as Lucas sent him a follow up that the police managed to get the villain in time before the slime corroded the webs. Mark thanked him as he skidded off and reached his apartment level. 

He stood before the apartment door, taking a deep breath before he pushed the door open carefully. His spidey-sense picked up loud scrambling behind the door and the door was thrown back and revealed Donghyuck looking at Mark with wide, worried eyes. He looked at Mark carefully, top to bottom and his eyes raked back to his face.

“Oh lord, you _are_ alive.” Donghyuck breathed, and smacked Mark’s shoulder painfully.

“Don’t just disappear on me like this! Are you crazy?” Donghyuck yelled at Mark, lowering his voice when he saw that Mark flinched at his anger. 

“Did you even check your phone?” 

Mark opened his mouth and yelped a little when he saw movement from the couch area. Donghyuck turned and smiled at the stranger who was making his way over to them. He was petite and very handsome, sharp, foxy eyes framed by black-rimmed glasses and an impish smile on his lips. He held out a hand for Mark to shake as he introduced himself as Renjun, Donghyuck’s co-worker in the cafe. 

“Hyuck, let him come in first before you yell at him more. I know you’re anxious but yell at him behind closed doors, okay?” Renjun hummed lightly, hands reaching to soothe Donghyuck’s hair.

Donghyuck nodded and Mark watched the initial anger fizzle out as Donghyuck became docile in his hands, making Renjun giggle a little as his hands went higher to ruffle his hair lightly. Donghyuck leaned into the touch and whined softly about selling him out to his best friend. Renjun smacked him lightly on the head, Mark catching the slight dip of Donghyuck’s head to accommodate the light hit, as Renjun just laughed at him quietly. Mark felt his heart drop at that intimate action but soon, Renjun removed his hand and retreated to the couch to grab his bag. 

Donghyuck pouted at him, tugging on his wrist, begging him to stay for the movie night since he was already around. Renjun stole a look at Mark and laughed, pulling Donghyuck in for a tight hug and declined the offer. He told him he’ll see him at work tomorrow as he slipped into his shoes and left through the door. Donghyuck sighed as he turned to face Mark, lips pulled down into a frown and the space between his eyebrows creased. 

“Mark, is that accounting internship really worth you losing sleep and selling your life out to them?” Donghyuck asked softly, eyes downcast. 

“I know I said this countless times, but please… I don’t want to watch my best friend spiral downwards into this self-destructive internship he holds.”

Mark looked away, biting on his lips, and remained silent. He couldn’t tell Donghyuck that he is Spiderman, he couldn’t just tell him that he just wanted to kiss the worries away, he just wanted to be normal. He wanted to be Donghyuck’s boyfriend just so he could ask who Renjun was — he doesn’t even need his spidey-senses to know that the light touches towards Donghyuck was beyond that of a colleague — and he wanted to ask how they became such good friends. There are so many things Mark could just throw away for Donghyuck and that includes his job as Spiderman. 

But Mark can’t. He refused to put his crush, _his Donghyuck_ , in any danger. 

So he kept his silence and hoped that Donghyuck wouldn't continue the conversation. He doesn’t really want to lie to Donghyuck even more than he did already, and he hoped that if there comes a day that Donghyuck found out about his identity, he would forgive him for all the lies he had spun over the years. He wonders if Donghyuck would still call him his soulmate after finding out his secret — (he would, but that’s for me and you the Reader to know).

Thankfully, he didn’t continue. Donghyuck just sighed at his silence and shuffled his way to the couch, grabbing the bowl of popcorn before he turned to smile at him.

“Get changed, I still want movie night to happen!” 

****

The next time Mark found Renjun in their apartment was a Saturday morning four months after their last encounter. He had just come back from his two days meetings at the Avengers Headquarters, utterly drained from the annual physical and mental evaluation. It was a shame he couldn’t meet Lucas who apparently was given a free pass from the evaluation and had only coached him from his home. 

“It’s the flu,” Lucas sniffed pathetically, and Mark could almost feel the gentle pout on his lips.

Sometimes Mark finds himself wondering if his mysterious guy-in-the-chair had a girlfriend or a boyfriend, he wasn't discriminatory. They would be such a blessed human to have Lucas as their partner — he was witty, a little clumsy and klutzy but he told the funniest jokes. Mark really enjoyed his company on mission, a comforting presence in his ear, always right there to talk to Mark and a really good friend that listens to everything Mark has to rant. He was surprisingly wise too, often offering pretty good advice to Mark and even helped him with the annoying Quantum Physics module he had last semester. 

But now was not the time to think about his partner — he has a bigger issue that came in the form of Huang Renjun.

He shuffled awkwardly into the kitchen and was about to dump his pathetic egg sandwich he bought from Starbucks on the table when he paused and took in the sight before him. Renjun was in Donghyuck’s apron, and stirring a pot of something, and he was humming a little song under his breath. The song sounded mildly familiar before it _hit_ Mark that it was the elevator music from the Avengers Headquarters. Mark narrowed his eyes sharply as Renjun who was oblivious of his return. Or so he thought. 

Renjun, without turning behind, just greeted Mark softly, his left hand took over the stirring and his right hand pointed to Donghyuck’s room. 

“Welcome back, Mark! So, Donghyuck was a little sick yesterday and I just managed to wake him up for his medicine a couple hours ago, so please try to keep your volume down, he has been very restless all night…” Renjun turned to give him a tight-lipped smile, but Mark could see the exhaustion in his eyes.

A sick Donghyuck is a very clingy, koala-like Donghyuck. Renjun must’ve taken care of him all night, holding his hand and petting his — Mark shook his head, no he must not dwell on whatever possible intimacy they could have during the night. He knew how clingy Donghyuck is from first-hand experience and he really shouldn’t be jealous at this time. 

“—wash up, the porridge will be done in a while, eat before you—” Renjun had started talking and Mark had completely glossed over the front part of the statement but he awkwardly cleared his throat and cut through Renjun’s monologue. 

“No, it’s okay… I’m not hungry. Thank you.” 

Renjun sighed and turned the fire down, turning on his heels to look at Mark impatiently. 

“Look, I know you are hostile to me because I’m growing close to Hyuck, but you do know that you’re irreplaceable to Hyuckie right?”

Mark was already into the hallway when he heard the last part and he stilled his movement cautiously. 

“There is no other person that could fight for your position in his life, Mark. Not even me, and I am his soulmate.”

“No,” Mark thought bitterly as he made his way back into the kitchen. “No, you’re not. I’m his soulmate, you’re not his soulmate.”

Renjun looked at him triumphantly as he begrudgingly walked back and he leaned in, his eyes sharp and keen on his face. Mark felt himself recoil slightly and he could feel his spidey-senses tingling. Renjun tilted his head, and Mark thought “how cute” before a smirk etched itself on his face. Renjun’s index finger tapped his chin thoughtfully as he struggled to form a sentence. He sighed and turned to check on the porridge bubbling in the pot. He added the white ends of the diced spring onion in and then Mark watched him dump a pound of pork into the porridge, stirring it in quickly. There was silence as Renjun stirred the porridge as Mark resigned to his fate and slid into the counter seat, watching Renjun’s back. 

“He misses you a lot, way more than you think he does, and he is worried about you. He just doesn’t know how to tell you that,” Renjun sighed, stirring the porridge wistfully. 

Mark shuddered violently as a chilling shiver ran down his spine. There was a slight increase of his spidey-senses tingling as he cautiously regarded Renjun. His eyes darted around, assessing the situation as his brain whirled into motion. If Renjun proved to be a foe, he would take him down before he could even come close to Donghyuck. Renjun turned and Mark froze in his seat as he brought over the piping hot pot and set it down. Renjun washed two bowls and scooped a generous amount onto one before he garnished it with more green spring onions and pushed it towards Mark.

Mark took it gingerly, and sniffed it lightly, his heightened sense of smell didn't pick up any poison. He mixed the spring onion into the porridge and held a spoonful to his mouth, blowing on it gently to cool. Renjun beamed when he started eating the porridge as he got himself a glass of juice and settled comfortably into the stool. Mark could feel his eyes on him, and was about to look up at Renjun when he spoke.

“I know you are Spiderman, and I also know you have a huge crush on Donghyuck…” Renjun rested his chin on his palm as he gazed at him sharply. “But I’m not backing down, I’m not going to give up pursuing Lee Donghyuck just because his best friend is Spiderman and has a huge crush on him.”

There it is, the reason for his spidey-senses going haywire.

Mark gaped at Renjun, mouth opening and closing as his brain tried to process the information given to him. Renjun knew who he was, Renjun knew his identity, does it mean that Donghyuck knew the lies he fed to him? As if he could see the fans of Mark’s brain whirling and spluttering into stillness, Renjun just sighed at his stunned face. Fumbling through his bag, Renjun dug out a name card in his bag and smiled at Mark, handing it over. Mark looked at the name on the card and then backed up on the grinning face of Renjun. 

_Huang Renjun_

_Head of Technological Advancement - Lab 15_

_Avengers Headquarters_

“Wha—” Mark squeaked and Renjun shot him a death glare, jutting his chin to the closed bedroom door.

“Yes, I am Huang Renjun — codename RJ. The very person that created that newly installed system in your suit. I’m also the same guy who recommended Xuxi to be your guy-in-the-chair since the last two quit after a week with you, so yeah.”

“Hold the heck up, what the… no, wait… you— _You are RJ?_ You’re the mysterious RJ on the board of directors? CEO Huang’s son? Oh my god.”

Renjun nodded. 

“Yes, and Xuxi is my cousin. He is an idiot, but he is in lo— nevermind, that’s not something I can share but yes, I am. And Donghyuck doesn’t know a thing about me neither does he know about you.”

Mark blinked at the overload of information and his brain tried to compute everything he was just told. 

“And he even told me that he would help me distract you? From Donghyuck? But he is your _cousin_?”

Renjun chuckled softly at his expression as he scooped out a bowl of porridge for himself. When Mark finally finished computing everything into his mind, he gaped at Renjun who just chuckled fondly at his face. Before he could say another word to Renjun, the door leading to Donghyuck’s bedroom opened and Donghyuck walked out rubbing his sleep-ladened eyes and his hair artfully tousled by sleep. 

“Injun-ah, who are you talking to?” 

Renjun’s eyes softened at the voice and he walked over to Donghyuck, gently patting his unruly hair. Mark watched them closely and something gnawed at the corner of his heart. He quietly watched how Donghyuck whined at the touch and rested his head on Renjun’s shoulder, nose nuzzling Renjun’s neck. Renjun laughed quietly, his hands still in Donghyuck’s hair as he shifted on his feet to accommodate their weight, tilting his neck for Donghyuck to nuzzle better. Mark averted his eyes from the scene, a painful crack was heard in his heart, as he returned to spooning the porridge into his mouth. 

_Damn it, Renjun can cook so well_. 

Donghyuck slowly woke up from Renjun’s shoulder, pulling away from him as they exchanged a shared look. Renjun reached up to feel his forehead, checking for any residue fever, and cupped his cheek lightly. Donghyuck gave him a soft smile, still dazed from the sleep he had just woke up from, as his eyes caught the sight of Mark. He gave a loud yelp, pulling away from Renjun and jumped on Mark, cuddling up to him tightly. 

“You’re back!” Donghyuck mumbled into his shoulders.

Mark felt bad now, feeling how Donghyuck trembled as he hugged him. He remembered what Renjun told him and turned to look at Renjun who looked away, a flash of bitterness in his eyes before it was schooled into a neutral expression. Mark lowered his gaze and wondered how Renjun must’ve felt when Donghyuck does things like this. He refused to meet his eyes as Renjun walked over to card his hands through Donghyuck’s hair gently before he grabbed a spare piece of paper and wrote down the medicine timetable on it. He passed Mark the paper and tugged on Donghyuck’s ears gently, forcing him to promise to adhere to the timetable. 

Once he received an affirmative nod from the boy, Renjun beamed and took his bag from the seat.

“Take care Hyuckie, I’ll be leaving then.”

Donghyuck jolted up from his cuddling with Mark and grabbed Renjun’s hand panickedly, eyes blown wide open. Mark was startled by the sudden action when Renjun shook his head firmly, his hand going to cup his cheek and stroked his jawline lovingly. He eased his wrist out of Donghyuck’s grip and shook his head again. Mark could hear and feel the pout forming on Donghyuck’s lips when he opened his mouth to coax Renjun to stay. 

“Injunnie, at least take a nap before leaving, you didn’t sleep at all yesterday.”

Renjun just laughed softly, pinching Donghyuck’s cheeks lightly. 

“I’ll see you on Monday, Hyuckie,” and with that Renjun grabbed his bag and left the apartment swiftly. 

Donghyuck pouted at the closed door but quickly got over the whole ordeal when Mark offered to share stories about his “business trip”. Soon, the incident was forgotten and they carried on with their lives. Mark met Renjun in the headquarters a couple of times and he just gave him a little wave before he skipped away to one of the conference rooms. Two months later, during another weekly movie night, Donghyuck was very distracted throughout the whole movie which just prompted Mark to stop the movie.

He turned to look at Donghyuck, who jumped at the sudden attention Mark was giving him. He turned his face away, lips turned down, and crossed his arms around his torso. Mark knew how stubborn he was, but he also knew that something was bothering him a lot. 

“What?” Donghyuck pouted at him. 

Mark reached out a hand and touched him on the arm, gently coaxing him to talk. Donghyuck looked down on his lap, and Mark could feel the turmoil within him and he looked at Mark carefully. Donghyuck narrowed his eyes and bit his lips before he choked out a rapid, “Do you have an issue with Renjun?”

Mark blinked, shaking his head quickly as an answer to that question. 

No, he doesn’t have an issue with Renjun, he is just rather intimidated by the petite boy, that’s all. He was invited to a conference that Renjun was leading and holy shit, he was lost halfway through the conference while Renjun was explaining the concepts to the adults in the room. And he is _younger than Mark_ but holy shit, he was terrified. Lucas made fun of him when Mark told and giggled about how Renjun is a kitten and that he would never hurt you. Mark begged to differ when he met Renjun in the sparring ring and watched him take down Ten — the other agent, codename Kitty — on the mat. 

Donghyuck pondered a little at the answer, watching his face keenly before his stoic expression faded into a lopsided smile and the light returning to his eyes.

“Great, that means I can take Renjun out for a date—”

“What?”

Donghyuck blinked at Mark’s outburst, pink dusting his cheeks.

“Take Renjun out on a date, I think I might like him… he has always been around me, helping me with things at work, with my fretting over you, he h-helped a lot with handling my emotions too.”

Mark felt his heart sink into the pacific ocean and a punch in his guts. The crack on his heart deepened and shattered it into a million pieces. He gave Donghyuck a small smile as he picked at the chinese takeout boxes before them and felt his appetite dwindle to an uncomfortable churning in his stomach. Donghyuck took a bite out of his fried rice and hummed under his breath, a smile adorning on his face. Mark controlled his emotions and felt tears welling up in his eyes, as he looked down on his own box. 

His soulmate, his other half, his _best friend_ liked another person. He lost his chance, he lost his best friend, he lost the love of his life. 

“Mark?” Donghyuck called out, and Mark kept his head lowered, afraid that his eyes would give away the storm that was brewing within himself. 

A hand was placed on his own, and Mark looked up to face Donghyuck who was giving him a soft, gentle smile. Almost immediately, the storm quietened down within Mark, and he felt calmer than ever. Donghyuck gave him a small tentative smile, cautious at how he would react to whatever he was going to say. 

“You’ll always be my soulmate, Mark. No one, not even Renjun, will ever replace that. You are, and will always be, my soulmate and my best friend. Well, platonically that is. There are only things I can do with you, things I would want to do with you, places I would love to go with you and only you. No one knows me as well as you do, no one made me felt at ease like you do, no one fits me as well as you do.”

Mark swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded, returned the hold on Donghyuck’s hand as his best friend smiled brighter. Their takeout boxes laid in their laps as they held hands and Mark gathered his courage to ask the question that was burning in him. 

“Then, what is Renjun?”

Donghyuck tilted his head at the question and Mark could see the gears turning in his brain. Mark swallowed an imaginary lump in his throat, he knew what he was going to say. 

“Renjun is my soulmate... the romantic kind? He knows what I’m thinking, he finishes my sentences, and he just matches so well with me, like the yin and yang thingy, you know? The way he would just be there whenever I need him — did you know there was this extremely rude customer at the cafe that day and I was almost going to cry when Renjun just stepped in and chased the person away before he dragged me to take my break and stayed with me throughout the whole time, making sure I was fine? — and the way his presence would just make me so much happier, the way he…”

Donghyuck fell silent, his cheeks flushed red and Mark somehow knew what he was going to continue with. Donghyuck looked at the takeout box with a loving smile on his face as he struggled to find the correct sentence to finish his sentence. Mark watched the way Donghyuck’s face lit up when he thought of the memories he had with Renjun, and Mark felt a sickly pinch in his guts as he took in the lovesick look on his best friend’s face.

“... the way he is just so familiar to me, like he was always here with me since forever, and the way the light bounces off his features, and he looks utterly _devastatingly_ pretty… the way he chatters when he drag me through art museums last Saturday and I just want to spend the rest of my life with him by my side… Wow, that is so embarrassing to admit but yes, I think I like him a lot more than I thought I would.”

Mark looked down and somehow, an odd sense of feeling, the tightness in his chest loosen up as he turned to face Donghyuck again. He offered his hand to Donghyuck who gripped it tightly as they shared a little moment. Mark nodded at him, offering him a genuine smile this time. If there’s someone he would trust donghyuck to, it would have to be Renjun. After all, if he truly loved Donghyuck, he would let him go to the one that he loves — even if the person wasn’t him. 

That night when Donghyuck bounced back to his room to sleep, leaving Mark alone on the couch, Mark thought of many things. He thought of their shared past, their childhood, their little college mishaps with their seniors, and the many fond memories he had shared with his best friend. Somehow, the dull throbbing of his heart faded into numbness and he felt relieved for some reason. Like he was previously chained up — his love for Donghyuck doesn’t make him a prisoner but it was like a burden was lifted from his shoulders. 

There was an unspoken soreness in his heart like an overstretched muscle. It felt vaguely like the skin was stretched over to fit something that wasn’t meant to be, an mismatched puzzle piece forced itself into the puzzle and now it is removed and the odd sense of relief it brought upon Mark was strange. The sensation left Mark very puzzled. The sadness that filled him when he first heard the news was replaced by a dull, empty longing. What scared him was that he hoped that the gaping hole in his heart could be filled one day. 

And somehow, one thing led to another, his mind drifted and landed on a name.

_Lucas._

Oh, right. Mark should probably update him about his wilted crush and probably whine a little to him about how shitty he felt. Chuckling to himself, tickled by the thought of how exasperated Lucas would sound over the intercom, Mark whispered a wordless apology to Lucas. He may be hurting a lot, his huge crush on Donghyuck was indeed a long one, but the glow of happiness he saw on Donghyuck’s face was undoubtedly worth the sharp pain he felt in his heart.

***********************

“So are you feeling alright?” Lucas asked tentatively.

“Lucas, you literally ask me this three times a day since I cried to you about the heartbreak, it’s been almost two months and I’m really alright now, don’t worry dude,” I groaned into the intercom. 

There was a new update to my suit a couple weeks back and I was handed a new device that clipped on to my ears like an earring. It allows me to communicate with Lucas without the suit. It was a device that Renjun had specially crafted my pair with his own hands — “an apology, of some sorts I guess?” Renjun had told me, cheeks dusting pink as I laughed at his uncomfortable fidgeting. Donghyuck had declared a week ago that he would be moving in with Renjun and well, it really wasn’t a shock seeing how they were attached by the hip these days. But it still kinda feels weird seeing Renjun with Donghyuck, especially when I catch them stealing little kisses when they thought no one was looking at them. 

Oh, and Donghyuck found out about my superhero job a few months after he officially started dating Renjun. 

There was a little fight between them when Renjun, in order to protect my identity more than his own, refused to let Donghyuck know where he was interning at. Donghyuck was screaming about how everyone was keeping a secret from him and that it was unfair. Long story short, I found Renjun crying in the lab and then the whole story behind the fight that Donghyuck refused to tell me. I gave Renjun a hug and promised to help make things better. That night I met Donghyuck and told him everything — from how I came to be Spiderman, how I’m faking my accounting internship, my midnight adventures, my fake business trips. He took it quite well — sobbing in my shoulder midway through my confession about how he had wrongly accused Renjun and wailed about losing the love of his life. I chuckled at his dramatics and promised him that Renjun would accept his apology if he properly apologised to him. 

Surprisingly, the uncertain smile he sent me when I said that didn’t send a sharp pain in my heart like I expected it to. Instead, I felt relieved that he wasn’t going to lose Renjun, lose _his soulmate_. The relief tripled when I saw them holding hands in the Avengers Headquarters. I watched them fondly as Renjun led him down the hallways when they spotted me and gave me a bright smile. Renjun tugged Donghyuck into the lab he was working in, and I gave a loud sigh of relief, making Lucas jump in my intercom. My heart surprisingly felt lighter and happier, glad that they managed to patch things up with each other. 

So many things had happened over the past few weeks leaving me completely drained. It is cute to see Lucas being so worried about me, the concern that leaks into his voice whenever we get connected. He was truly the best guy-in-the-chair for me, and he really brought along a comforting presence in my life. It felt like I knew him since— wait a minute… I froze in my seat before shaking my head strongly, trying to get rid of the ridiculous thought that formed in my mind. That is ridiculous. 

I slumped across the table and felt the fatigue from the last two missions catching up on me.

“I’m trying to show you some Tender Loving Care, alright… you have been bursting yourself with missions since Donghyuck moved out to stay with Renjun. It’s not a healthy coping mechanism for loneliness,” Lucas’s pout could be heard in my ears. 

_Oh, that. I have really forgotten about that._

I gave him an amused hum in reply and he could hear Lucas sighing in resignation at my stubbornness. 

“Listen, do you want to finally meet up or something? I have been your right hand man for almost a year and we have never met, not even once. I’m in Headquarters today because Renjun needs to upgrade the system I’m using.”

I perked up at the idea of meeting my guy-in-the-chair. It is true that we have worked together seamlessly for almost a year and we had never ever met up before. Now I’m curious about how he looked — does he look like a splitting image of Renjun or a calmer, softer looking boy. I had an image of him being around Renjun’s size, eyes sharp and keen like a fox, and a pair of glasses sitting on his nose bridge. Lucas had always been a sweetheart in the intercom and I wouldn’t put it past him if he turned out to be a gentle, petite boy. Something tugged at the corner of my heart, a fond longing to _finally_ meet Lucas. 

I stretched tiredly in the chair and replied lazily, “Sure, I’m at the Neo meeting room.”

“See you soon then, give me a minute,” Lucas cheered quietly and the line disconnected. 

I whined tiredly into my arms and after a couple of minutes, after a few close instances of me actually falling asleep, I heard the meeting room door swing open. Heavy footsteps came towards me, and I only sniffed into my arm and blearily looked up to see who came in. My sleep induced mind was slow to respond to the tall figure that was standing before me, a smile stretched across his gorgeous features. I blinked again and frowned at the stranger before me.

“I thought you would be shorter, like Renjun.”

My face flushed hot after I said that and quietly scolded myself for the lack of filter between my brain and mouth. Lucas was not offended at all judging from the loud laugh that escaped from his mouth. His gorgeous face contorted into a mess as he tried to stop his laughter. When my mind finally woke up from the sleepy haze and my breath got caught in my throat. 

Lucas was nothing I imagined him to be — he was quite the opposite. 

I let my eyes rake up Lucas’s body appreciatively and stopped at his face, blinking confusedly at him because _holy shit he was tall_. Lucas chuckled at my expression and pulled a seat out beside me, watching my movements carefully. He reached a hand out and poked my cheeks gently, before resting his hands to cup my cheeks. His touch was tender and soft, and I leaned into his touch almost on instinct, a low purr threatened to escape my lips. 

“So, want to hang out with me this weekend? Just the two of us?” Lucas asked, voice soft and low which sent a delightful shiver down my spine. 

I blinked at the invitation and met Lucas’s eyes as he gave a soft smile. A warm feeling bloomed across my chest, and seeped into every nerve of my body. A happy murmur swept through my chest, filling the gaping hole that my love for Donghyuck had left. I trembled lightly when I realised that the hole could perfectly fit a Lucas-shaped puzzle piece in place. It fits so well that I could feel the comfort and relief flood through my soul, tears pricking my eyes. I looked back at him, mind whirling into action, and I rested my hand on his. 

We shared a smile and I nodded. “Sure, I would love to.”

Perhaps, I may have found my own soulmate after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> The head-canons for all 4 of them cutie pies!
> 
> 1\. It's Lucas's fault that RenHyuck got together because Renjun heard about Lucas's crush on Mark and went "I would like to see who's the dumbass that Mark likes when you, my precious cousin, is a whole meal right here".  
> 2\. Renjun found out that he was in love with Donghyuck when they harmonised during one of their closing shifts at the cafe. I mean, who wouldn't fall for Donghyuck when he perfectly harmonises I See The Light from Tangled.  
> 3\. Lucas was whipped for Mark when he saw him in the Avenger's HQ and begged Renjun to assign him to the boy and Renjun won a whole four months of bubble tea from him.  
> 4\. RenHyuck's first date was in an Art Museum and they bickered over every painting there was because "why would anyone _look_ at that??? ew!" and "ISTG, Lee Donghyuck, shut the heck up if you can't appreciate Monet"  
> 5\. Mark eventually found out that Lucas was the catalyst to RenHyuck meeting and laughed it off, cooing at how cute Lucas is for being worried that Mark would hate him for that  
> 6\. They often go on double dates and Donghyuck ended up working in the Avengers' HQ too after graduating.  
> 7\. "Wait, Mark... You're a physics/chem major, why would you tell Haechan that you're in an accounting firm?" (Lucas) / "It worked didn't it?" (Mark) / "Wait... what the heck, Mark I can't believe I fell for that!" (Hyuck) / *incoherent noises from Renjun who fixed them an unimpressed look*
> 
> Leave me a comment or a kudos if you liked the fic, please *puppy eyes*


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